UKIP MEP David Coburn has warned that Scotland will turn into a “stripped-pine Scandinavian, peacenik sauna republic” if the SNP wins the majority of the country’s seats on Thursday.
Launching the Ukip Scotland manifesto in Falkirk yesterday, Coburn promised that his party would introduce fracking, exclude Scottish MPs from voting on English matters, create a federal UK and scrap the Barnett Formula.
Coburn had to deflect accusations that his party was amateurish almost immediately, as copies of the manifesto were not available to party members or press, because Ukip were unable to find a printer open on a bank holiday Monday. The website that the manifesto was supposed to be hosted on did not work either.
The MEP also had to defend Ukip candidates for not turning up to the launch and not taking part in hustings. The candidates were, he said, real people like him.
“I would rather have real people, people like myself, people who actually have a job, rather than folk who are just in it for the game,” he said.
Coburn is standing for Falkirk in the General Election. This seat, he said, would be at the centre of his party’s plan to “re-industrialise” Scotland.
People in Falkirk, he said, “are not interested in the Scottish Nationalists because the Scottish Nationalists are not good for the business of Falkirk.
“They are not interested in fracking, which is essential to keep Grangemouth open.
“They are not interested in coal technology or improving it.
“They really just want to send us back to a William Wallace pre-industrialised age... but I think the vast majority of people would like to have their central heating, thank you very much.”
Coburn claimed that the party had “massive support” in Falkirk, and that Ukip would either win or “do extremely well”.
The seat was once a reasonably safe Labour seat, with Eric Joyce retaining a majority of around 8,000 at the 2010 election.
However, Joyce was suspended from the Labour Party after being convicted of assaulting six MPs during a drunken rage. The fight followed a drink-driving conviction and an intimate relationship with a 17-year-old schoolgirl.
Last week, Joyce was also convicted of assaulting two teenage boys last October.
Pollsters have predicted that Falkirk may be an easy win for the SNP.
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